football rambles

 A bright day for November saw us take a trip to the seaside to see Heacham take on Soham Town Rangers in the Eastern Counties League. A trip to the beach, followed by some excellent brewed on the premises beer at the Fox and Hounds (a rum infused bitter and a samphire infused stout) was followed up by a trip to the game. Going into the game Soham were on a rich vein of form and they seemed to have brought more fans than Heacham, who are struggling at the end of the table. In the opening encounters Soham seemed more up for it, but Heacham seemed to be playing the ball around with more aplomb. However, there was a feeling of inevitably when Soham took the lead through Taffari Passley after 10 minutes. Heacham fought back though and just before the half hour mark Toby Hilliard levelled things up from a corner. The rest of the half was end to end stuff, but chances were few and far between. Heacham came out firing in the second half  and were on top for most of it as Soham grew m...

 Easter Monday saw Downham take on Heacham in a local derby. Downham were assured a place in the playoffs but still had an outside chance of winning the league. Unfortunately, a massive win for Brantham means that now if they are to get promoted, they'll have to do it the hard way. They also had to do it the hard way in this game. Despite starting the game kicking towards their favoured Wimbotsham End, they went down 1-0 within a few seconds of kick off. Downham fought back though and were level when some good work by Charlie Royle saw him finish off his own move and put the sides level. After this it was mainly Downham who were in the ascendancy but were perhaps trying a bit too hard to force the issue. They were given another lifeline late in the half when Heacham were reduced to 10 men when a stray elbow broke the nose of Matt Castellan  and the offending defender was given his marching orders. The second half continued in a very similar vain to the first with Downham attac...

 The second game of the bank holiday bonanza was Ely City v Heacham, which I think will probably be the last time that Ely City are my local team, although I might make it to the Sheringham game on Friday night. Ely went into the game not having won or scored in a league game in 2024. Heacham, who had started the season off well, have also been sliding down the table in recent weeks. However, despite the sun being out for the first time this year too, there wasn't much optimism in the stands that Ely would get the win or that the game would provide that much entertainment. The first half lived up to expectations in that nothing much happened and neither team really created anything. However, a keeper blunder early on in the second let Jack Friend give the hosts the lead. This helped Ely gain more confidence and later add on  a second also from Jack Friend.  A great performance in the second half by Ely, although there still needs to be some questions asked of how they lac...